DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2371#0428
406 BRAHMANICAL CAVE-TEMPLES.
the next is a Vaishnava temple considerably higher up in the rock,
and to the north-east of the Sivalaya; the largest, also Vaishnaya,
is still further to the east on the north face of the hill; and the last
is a little beyond it, but is a Jaina cave, and of much smaller dimen-
sions than the preceding three Brahmanical ones. All four are still
in unusually excellent preservation, and are very rich in mythological
sculpture.
Cave No.' III. or Great Cave is by far the finest of the series, and
one of the most interesting Brahmanical temples in India; it is also
the only cave-temple the age of which is known with certainty, for it
is in it that the inscription of Mahgalisa, the son of Pulikesi L, the
Chalukya king, who made Badami his capital, is found. Though it
cannot compare with Elephanta or some of the larger caves at Elura
in dimensions, it is still a temple of considerable size, the verandah
measuring nearly 70 feet in length, and the cave inside 65 feet,
with a total depth from the front of the verandah pillars to the
back wall of 48 feet,—the shrine going into the rock about 12 feet
further, while the general height throughout verandah and hall is
15 feet,1 (Plate LXVIL, fig. 2.) It is higher up in the rock than the
other Vishnava cave, and is entered by an ascending stair through a
door in the west end of a square court in front of it, the north side
of this court being formed by a large mass of rock left unexcavated
there. The east and west ends are formed by old walls of masonry,
that on the east entirely precluding all access from this side to the
Jaina cave just beyond it, so that the Jainas must have formed a
path for themselves from the shore of the lake or taldo below up
to their rock-cut shrine.
The cave faces the north, and the level of the floor is eight or
nine feet above that of the court outside. A narrow platform a
built up outside the whole length of the front, the cave being
entered by a flight of steps in the centre of it, but which have n
been torn down,—probably because the long treads of the step*
were found useful for some purpose or other in the village. A
front of the platform has a moulded cornice, and under it a da o
of blocks, many of them seven feet long, divided into more
thirty compartments throughout the length of it, and in each com-
partment two of those little fat dwarfs or ganas that are
1 For plan and details see Archceol. Stir. W. Ind., vol. i.
the next is a Vaishnava temple considerably higher up in the rock,
and to the north-east of the Sivalaya; the largest, also Vaishnaya,
is still further to the east on the north face of the hill; and the last
is a little beyond it, but is a Jaina cave, and of much smaller dimen-
sions than the preceding three Brahmanical ones. All four are still
in unusually excellent preservation, and are very rich in mythological
sculpture.
Cave No.' III. or Great Cave is by far the finest of the series, and
one of the most interesting Brahmanical temples in India; it is also
the only cave-temple the age of which is known with certainty, for it
is in it that the inscription of Mahgalisa, the son of Pulikesi L, the
Chalukya king, who made Badami his capital, is found. Though it
cannot compare with Elephanta or some of the larger caves at Elura
in dimensions, it is still a temple of considerable size, the verandah
measuring nearly 70 feet in length, and the cave inside 65 feet,
with a total depth from the front of the verandah pillars to the
back wall of 48 feet,—the shrine going into the rock about 12 feet
further, while the general height throughout verandah and hall is
15 feet,1 (Plate LXVIL, fig. 2.) It is higher up in the rock than the
other Vishnava cave, and is entered by an ascending stair through a
door in the west end of a square court in front of it, the north side
of this court being formed by a large mass of rock left unexcavated
there. The east and west ends are formed by old walls of masonry,
that on the east entirely precluding all access from this side to the
Jaina cave just beyond it, so that the Jainas must have formed a
path for themselves from the shore of the lake or taldo below up
to their rock-cut shrine.
The cave faces the north, and the level of the floor is eight or
nine feet above that of the court outside. A narrow platform a
built up outside the whole length of the front, the cave being
entered by a flight of steps in the centre of it, but which have n
been torn down,—probably because the long treads of the step*
were found useful for some purpose or other in the village. A
front of the platform has a moulded cornice, and under it a da o
of blocks, many of them seven feet long, divided into more
thirty compartments throughout the length of it, and in each com-
partment two of those little fat dwarfs or ganas that are
1 For plan and details see Archceol. Stir. W. Ind., vol. i.